


Dreams of a Different Destiny

by tarotea_ji



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Daydreams, F/M, I'll save you from the pirates, Nightmare, Pining, Season 1 Zuko, What Could Have Been, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, betrothal necklaces, he definitely got attached to Katara's necklace while he had it, maybe in another life, one sided pining, zuko can't stop thinking about katara, zuko is an angsty boi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:54:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29432751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tarotea_ji/pseuds/tarotea_ji
Summary: Jun makes a joke, Zuko overthinks it. Zuko can't stop thinking about a necklace, and the girl who it belongs. He wishes things were different.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 51





	Dreams of a Different Destiny

Zuko blames Jun. After all she had been the one to say aloud the thoughts he’d been managing to suppress in the back of his mind into a joke he can’t get out of his head. Joke or not, the word ‘girlfriend’ was echoed in his mind during their search. He replays the conversation they had in front of the tavern in his mind.

“I need you to find someone.”

“What happened? Your _girlfriend_ run off on you?”

“It’s not the girl I’m after, it’s the bald monk she’s traveling with.”

But even if it was the girl he was after, nothing would come of it. He doesn’t even know her name but when he returns to the ship after the battle at the abbey, he feels a sense of loss. They are children of war. Violence has shaped his bloodline and he wears the mark of it on his face. His ancestors are responsible for the loss of the people whose traditions he has wrapped around his wrist. When Zuko first found the necklace, he didn’t know what to do with it. The blue velvet with its gemstone carrying the symbol of the water tribe had no place on the ship of the banished crown prince of the fire nation. Despite this, Zuko made a place for it, hidden under his armor, wrapped around his wrist. _“This necklace will help me capture the avatar,”_ he told himself every time he subconsciously reached for it.

He wishes it didn’t affect him.

* * *

A wide eyed teenage boy kneels on the ground of the arena, tears fighting their way out of his golden eyes, trailing onto his face.

“Coward.”

He hears it in his heartbeat. He hears it in scornful gazes of the crowd. He hears it coming from his father who stands over him menacingly. His desperation grows and he bows deeper, “I won’t fight you. I meant no disrespect.”

Without hesitation Ozai yells, “I’ll teach you respect.”

Fire is coming towards him, it’s growing from his father’s hand and soaring towards him. The audience is burning up around him, his uncle with his averted eyes, his sister wearing her signature smirk, they disappear into flames along with everyone else. A blinding torrent of fire is soaring towards him, a comet ready to collide, burn, and destroy everything in its wake. And Zuko is frozen on his knees as his father’s fire mercilessly approaches him. The last thing Zuko remembers seeing before the fire took him was the smug expression on his father’s face. And just as the fire is about to take him into a world of blinding, scorching pain, Zuko suddenly opens his eyes, stifling the scream he knows will come next.

He sits up instantly on his bed, hunched over breathing heavily while his heart beats furiously. It takes him a moment to realize that it was a nightmare, at least this time it was. Zuko reaches up and feels the rough, marred side of his face. This time was just a dream. Out of habit, Zuko reaches for his wrist, ready to unclasp the necklace he had been carrying for weeks so he can hold it in his palm and rest it against his chest to soothe him. Then he remembers the necklace is gone. He found it after a battle, it’s fitting he lost it in another. Zuko wishes he still had the blue velvet anchor to remind him of his mission. After all it wasn’t the girl he was looking for, it was the bald monk she was traveling with: the avatar. All he wants is his honor, there should be no room for wanting some girl. But thoughts of her and the threads of hers he wears on his wrist and holds against his heart are tangling in his mind. He is her enemy. The one who takes away her people, her peace, and her necklace. He is not the one who can bring any of those back. After all, only the avatar can bring peace, it is fitting he is the one to return the necklace. Zuko’s family took peace away, and he took the piece of home she wore around her neck away from her. Somehow the fact the necklace belonged to her mother helped comfort him too. He wishes he had something to remind him of his mother. This is the way his life is, and the way it is supposed to be. She could not ever love him, he is the face of the enemy. He cannot love her. Once he regains his honor and his title, he will end up with a girl whose fire nation heritage and status cannot be disputed.

_“What is wrong with me?”_

He’s fought her more than he’s talked to her, and the word he thinks of is love? He clenches his fists in frustration. He storms out of his cabin onto the deck so he can practice his firebending. The sun is long gone, and the moonlight falls softly over the bow of the ship. “She rises with the moon.” If Uncle was watching him now he would notice that Zuko’s movements are off, his mind is clearly not on the deck with him. His breathing is not steady and neither are his movements.

_“Stop thinking about the water tribe girl, you idiot.”_

_“It didn’t mean anything, It was just a necklace.”_

_“I wonder if Uncle would like her.”_

He grows increasingly frustrated with every thought that wanders into his mind and his bending becomes more sporadic. He is shooting flames out as fast as he can to distract himself but he eventually grips the railing of the ship to catch his breath. His ponytail sways in the cold, salty wind and the sea spray jumps up to greet him as the ship passes waves after wave. He clings to the railing and focuses on the night sky for any sign of a giant flying bison. It is his destiny to capture the avatar, and that destiny cannot include childish daydreams of “ _what if._ ” Zuko lets the rhythm of the ocean comfort him and inevitably he thinks of her, and lets his ideas of what could have been haunt him.

* * *

_“Looking for this?”_

_“My mother’s necklace? How did you get it?”_

_Instead of continuing trying to persuade her to take the necklace in exchange for information on the avatar’s whereabouts, Zuko freezes in his place. It belonged to her mother. His expression softens, he no longer is trying to be threatening. He lets his facade break open and stands beside her in the moonlight. He gently clasps the necklace around her neck. She looks at him wide eyed with shock, his hand still rests on her shoulder and he returns her gaze. Suddenly he becomes aware of the intimacy of such a gesture, and realizes just how close he is to her._

_“I’m sorry for keeping it from you,” he whispers to her._

_He unties the ropes that bound her to the tree, and she pauses for a moment before quickly disappearing back into the night. She doesn’t look back at him. He knows this because he never looked away._

* * *

That’s not what happened. He wishes he held onto her wrists more gently when he grabbed her to menacingly tell her he’d save her from the pirates. He wishes she could have ran into his arms and he could have held her for even a moment before they fought against the pirates, not each other. He wonders what it would be like to be something other than her enemy, a friend even. If things were different maybe even something more.

During breakfast and tea the next morning, Zuko is more calm and constrained than his Uncle has seen him for a long time. He says little, and makes it through the meal without a fiery outburst. Instead he just glances at his wrist when he thinks his uncle isn’t looking. Iroh notices. He noticed the time while he was overseeing his nephew bending practice that something fell out of his armor onto the deck of the ship, and Zuko immediately abandoned the exercise he was in the midst of to grab it off the ground and wrap it around his wrist again. Iroh also watched him try to use the necklace as leverage with the water tribe girl and observed how his nephew's demeanor had softened just the slightest after that encounter.

“Prince Zuko, let me tell you about a tradition of the northern water tribe.”

Zuko looks at him with a mix of confusion and embarrassment then returns to drinking his tea as his Uncle continues.

“You see, it is a custom for a man to carve his betrothed a necklace that she will wear around her neck as a sign of their commitment to each other.”

Zuko chokes on the tea he was drinking and suddenly stands up and leans against the railing as he coughs, sending fire and smoke out to the sea. He hides his embarrassment by going to the telescope at the bow of the boat to contemplate the significance of him having her necklace. He blushes as he realizes the way he wishes he’d handled the situation just confirms feelings he wishes he didn’t have. Zuko looks out over the sea and thinks of her, water is her element after all and he is surrounded by it. He remembers feeling the carved water tribe symbol in the smooth ocean colored gem. Her eyes, they were that same brilliant shade of blue of the stone in the necklace. They had been so close together for a few moments under that tree.

* * *

_Zuko is accompanied by his uncle and cousin on a journey at sea. He is going to the Southern Water Tribe to be married. He and Lu Ten pass time on the ship sparring and playing pai sho while Iroh watches over them with a contented smile and occasionally gives them suggestions hidden in metaphors. Zuko’s face is unmarred, his hair is in the traditional topknot, he is ready to honor peace and the alliances his family seek to build through his marriage to the crown princess of the southern water tribe. He wears a necklace around his wrist. He carved it himself to present to his future wife, and he is secretly excited by the thought of her wearing it. Once they arrive, there are several hours of formalities to endure before he can actually meet her, and his nervousness grows with each passing minute. By the time she sees him in a brief period before their combined family dinner, he is dressed in a blue parka like the rest of the tribe. She notices him running his hands through his hair and glancing between her and the ground, muttering to himself._

_“Hi, I’m Katara.”_

_“Hello, Zuko here.” She laughs at his unexpected greeting, and his cheeks which are already flushed from the cold gain even more color. He stumbles with his mittens and tries to find the necklace buried in the sleeves of his parka. She raises an eyebrow at him teasingly, “need some help?”_

_“Yes, thank you,” he replies trying to gain some sense of formality to hide his awkwardness. She puts her hand in his sleeve and feels something soft wrapped around his wrist and tries to find a way to unclasp it. After gently removing it from his sleeves, she places the necklace in his gloved hands._

_“You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to”_

_“I don’t mind, I think it’s nice of you to make one,” she replies._

_He extends his hands out to her, “If you want to wear it, would you rather put it on yourself.”_

_She pauses for a moment before closing her hands over his and saying, “No, I want you to do it. It’s symbolic.”_

_Katara lifts her hands from his and turns around so herback is facing him. Zuko gently moves her dark brown braid to the side so he can clasp the necklace. He fumbles with his mittens, but eventually manages to secure it around her neck, he can feel her stifling laughter and although he’s embarrassed he doesn’t mind. Once she turns around to face him again, he looks shyly at her, again the flush in his cheeks deepening._

_“Katara! Zuko!” someone calls for them._

_“That’s Gran-Gran It’s time for our family dinner, come” she takes his mittened hand in his and runs back towards her family, Zuko trailing slightly behind her, with a smile. She glances back at him and returns his smile, and squeezes his hand. Zuko already feels brighter around her. He is hopeful that for their future, he is excited to get to know Katara more. He is glad that their destinies brought them together, not just for a moment but for a lifetime_.

* * *

“Prince Zuko!” Uncle Iroh calls across the ship’s deck, “Would you like to have some more tea?” Zuko is shaken out of his reverie. He looks out into the ocean, and whispers, voice cracking slightly “maybe in another life.” He walks back towards his uncle. Zuko crosses the threshold from dreams he will never realize to the destiny he cannot escape.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this! I was rewatching season 1 of atla and I kept wondering how Zuko thought about Katara and her necklace. I wanted to write something that's technically cannon compliant but also deviates. I'm a sucker for a character imagining what could have been so I wrote that in. Also today's Valentine's Day so happy Valentines Day to everyone, especially to Zuko and Katara because they deserve the world and to be happy together.


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